The Final Tale
by elvictoria
Summary: After leaving Donna Noble, the Doctor finds himself stranded in Storybrooke, Maine where strange things are definitely happening. Can he solve the mystery and help the townsfolk find their Happily Ever After before his own story comes to an end?
1. Chapter 1

He could still hear the rain pounding against the pavement as the blue doors swung closed, leaving the Doctor alone in the TARDIS. In the new found silence, he finally paused a moment to think. Any sense of relief he felt, was displaced with the overwhelming sense of guilt he felt. What happened to Donna- what happened to so many... and he was alone again.

He sighed and began peeling off his wet jacket, hanging it loosely on one of the TARDIS' many knobs. Yes, things were settled but Donna would never remember. He'd gotten Rose back and lost her just as quickly. And poor Harriet Jones...

He did take comfort in the fact that even though he and Donna were left with the short end of the stick, the others did get their happy ending. Though it wasn't truly him, Rose got the DoctorDonna to go on her own adventures with. Martha was engaged to that young _human_ doctor Tom and Jack was back at Torchwood, helping get things back on track now that the imminent threat was over.

He walked around the TARDIS console, running his fingers numbly against the controls, playing idly with the many knobs and levers. The engine began to thrum.

_'VWORP VWORP'_

Not to mention Ood Sigma's cryptic warning about his song ending soon. Though he supposed it was inevitable- death, that is. Everyone dies at some point. In fact, this death would be his tenth such death, and be his eleventh incarnation. Though it wasn't the death that scared him. It was the change.

He wouldn't be the same person, to say the least. He could be an , or fat, or short, or a even a girl. Long hair, short hair, a beard. Though maybe he'd finally luck out be ginger. Though beyond that, what would his personality be like? Angry or passive?

He'd rather grown attached to this reincarnation. He'd managed to maintain his love of bananas, though he'd developed a rather strong distaste for pears. And who knew what type of food he'd prefer with the next incarnation? He'd probably end up with an affinity for fish fingers and custard or something similarly nauseating.

The doctor shuddered, even as a hypothetical favorite food it made his skin crawl. He immediately shook the thought from his head- his wandering mind's foray into his upcoming death did little to lift his mood and he returned his full attention to the console.

"Might as well go on one last adventure together." he mused aloud, stroking one of the console's panels. "or two or three." he grinned sadly and once again was off into the space time continuum.

* * *

><p>The Storybrooke police station was a small building, tucked in between the post office and the Game of Thorns flower shop. It was rather unremarkable by itself, distinguished only by the faded copper plaque hanging up on its brick face.<p>

Though the woman currently storming into the room certainly attracted attention. Her red coat was a stark contrast to the dirty brick of the building she entered.

"I can't believe I overslept." she grumbled, fumbling with a set of keys at the doorway. When the lock finally clicked, she swung the door open, and the woman strode past the front desk into the back area of the police station. She was Emma Swan, Sheriff of Storybrooke, Maine. And quite the talk of the town lately- standing up to Mr. Gold, trying and failing to expose Regina Mill's supposedly wicked ways. And even more recently, the assault of Mr. French, the florist, by Mr. Gold which Emma stopped just in time. The entire town was abuzz.

The blond woman flicked the light switch and after a slight pause, the lights flickered on, illuminating the collection of desks on the right side of the room and the holding cells opposite them. At her desk, at the back of the room, behind a glass partition, there was a small pile of papers all of which needed reviewing and approval to be submitted to the official record. Mostly about the recent assault. There was -unsurprisingly- little crime in the town. Not that Emma minded, as the only cop in town, she liked only having to handle one thing at a time.

"Ms. Swan." The sickly sweet voice floated to her before she'd even stepped out of the entry way. It came from the holding cell, where Mr. Gold sat up straighter on the bench to which he'd resigned myself. "A bit late aren't we?"

"Mr. Gold." Emma said curtly- not bothering to address his jibe. "I've got some good news for you today." The man stared at her with a curious expectation.

"And what would that be?" The suited gentleman stood.

Emma sighed, taking a few steps forwards him and the holding cell. For a reason that Emma believed was more likely than not related to the surreptitious mayor, Mr. Gold was free to go.

"There's no charges." Emma admitted, frowning. "City won't prosecute for obstruction, and Mr. French said he won't charge for the assault." The man smirked, positioning himself in front of the holding cell's door.

"Is that right?" Mr. Gold inquired, nodding his head to the side. His voice was quiet, but not so much that one had to strain to hear him. To Emma, over the past few days there was also a dangerous edge to his voice. One she hoped he would stop using.

"That's right." Emma said, opening the holding cell door. Mr. Gold hobbled out, supporting his bad leg with his cane. Though as he limped by, Emma noticed an intricate cup, clasped in his free hand. Undoubtedly something from he and Regina's little talk from the day prior. "So you have all of your stuff back?"

"Yes, Mrs. Mills ensured the safe return of my missing piece." He gave her a smirk. "So your help in this theft is no longer needed." Emma clenched her jaw. Regina. She knew it. Probably got Mr. French to steal all the items in the first place.

Was there any way at all that Regina didn't screw with her life?

"Well I'm glad you've gotten everything back." Emma said coolly. In the back of her mind, she knew that Henry might be interested in this revelation. The boy did think that his adopted mother was the Evil Queen from his book.

The book that for the time was missing, with no idea where it had gone off to. Though Henry thought that it was Regina once more. Not that Emma disagreed.

"I think, if I need any criminals apprehended, I'll leave it to you." Mr. Gold said, nodding his head. "I must admit- that holding cell is not quite what I'm used to. Bad back you know."

"Then don't assault people anymore." Emma retorted.

"I'll keep that in mind." Mr. Gold said, voice terse. "Now if you'll excuse me... my shop should have been opened an hour ago." And then Mr. Gold left, and Emma heard the door to the police station open and shut.

There was something about Mr. Gold that unsettled Emma, though she could never quite place her finger on what that thing was. She would just have to be more attentive.

* * *

><p><em>VWORP, VWORP.<em>

The Doctor paced the floor of the TARDIS, wondering where he should head off to. It wasn't an easy task, to say the least. Everything that had ever happened, anywhere in the whole of the universe was available to him. Save for a few fixed points in time of course.

That's when the Doctor noticed the flashing light on the TARDIS console. A mauve alert that the TARDIS itself was sending out. That was not good. He scrambled to the side of the console with the monitor, watching several numbers and alerts flash all over the screen.

"No! No! No!" he yelled, banging a panel with the heel of his hand. He tapped the monitor deftly, reading the alerts as they popped up, and trying to maneuver his screen to the outside view.

That's when the image flicked onto the screen and his eyes widened in panic. In the space time tunnel which he always found himself traveling, was a large black mass moving towards the TARDIS. It looked like smoke, and the Doctor could feel the malevolence oozing off the shape.

Immediately he began to run around the console, pulling levers and twisting knobs, all in the hopes that something could remove himself from the encroaching cloud. He'd never seen anything like it in the space-time tunnel before- but the fact that the TARDIS announced its own mauve code scared him the most.

"Come on- touch down! Somewhere! Anywhere! Away from that!" he yelled, as the engines strained louder and louder. He felt the TARDIS lurch sideways and he knew that the smokey mass had caught him. Something in this sector of space time found him and attacked his ship.

The TARDIS lurched again and he felt it begin to be dragged, down, to some time and place he didn't know.

The blue phone box materialized above the northeast United States, black smoke still wrapped around the Police Box. At top speed the TARDIS hurtled towards its final destination- which to the Doctor frantically pulling levers inside, seemed was the ground.

Closer, and closer the TARDIS seemed ready to smash into the ground- a road, rather- when finally, the black smoke dissipated, and the Doctor pulled one last lever, bringing the TARDIS out of its nosedive, and crashing straight into a billboard. Inside, the TARDIS rocked back and forth as it continued it mad descent to Earth.

With every bump and jolt the Doctor went flying. He could feel the TARDIS gouging the earth, kicking up mud and grass and gravel. At the same time, with every collision, the Doctor could sense the TARDIS slowing, until finally, after one more large bump and a long scrape, the TARDIS skid to a halt.

The Doctor glanced around wearily inside the TARDIS. There was absolutely no way that he didn't just draw massive amounts of attention. He removed his death grip from the stabilizer, moving around the other side of the console for what seemed like the umpteenth time in just as many minutes. While he had no intention of leaving, for the black smoke was certainly something that deserved a good investigation, he was hoping one of his instruments would be able to tell him what exactly happened.

Unfortunately, beyond the basic record of how the TARDIS moved during its crash and how long it took, the instruments did not provide a response to the Doctor's real question. "Why?"

He glanced towards the door, might as well find the source of all this trouble. He grabbed his coat, double checking for both his screwdriver and psychic paper – you could never be over-prepared- and waltzed to the door.

He pushed the door out, stepping into the sun. Well it certainly was bright today, that was for sure.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, and he quickly poked his head around the side of the phone box, attempting to check the damage his crash must have caused. Broken tree limbs and gouged lawn everywhere- further back he could see the remains of what used to be a bill board.

Such a shame his screwdriver didn't do wood. He shook his head and stepped back, only to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun. It was a young woman, blonde hair, red jacket, and a sheriff star clipped to her belt.

"You do that?" Emma asked, nodding to the wreckage.

"I- uh..." The Doctor glanced down. "You see- I crashed. Now would you mind putting that thing away, I'm not dangerous."

"What? Your phone box?" Emma asked incredulously. She lowered the gun slightly, but not enough that the Doctor stopped staring at it distastefully. "Yeah, I can buy that. What's your name?"

"Erm- John Smith," the Doctor fibbed quickly, Pulling out his psychic paper slowly to show the Sheriff. "I don't suppose you know where I am do you?"

"Storybrooke, Maine." Emma said curtly, eyes flicking up and down his person. "What are you drunk or something?" The Doctor took a breath and began to explain

"Well-"

"No- it's not important." Emma shoved her gun in its holster but replaced it with a pair of handcuffs. "Mr. John Smith- if that is your real name- I'm placing you under arrest for destruction of municipal property."


	2. Chapter 2

Arrested, that was not exactly a new one for him. Most of the time he'd hopped back in the TARDIS, and gone off somewhere else. Though usually it was also the last threat of his adventure. Not the first. Well- second. In fact, it was only the ominous cloud of black smoke that stopped him from taking a step back inside and flying off to some other planet- some other place than Maine.

That was another thing that scared him, what was a large black cloud, capable of pulling the TARDIS out of its trajectory doing in the middle of Maine?

Emma moved behind him, in between the Doctor and the TARDIS and cuffed his thin wrists. She took his arm by the wrist and began to lead him to her brown and white cruiser. His brown coat billowed behind him.

"Though I must admit, I have no idea how you managed to crash a phone box into the middle of Anser Square." she muttered to herself as she pulled the door of the police car open

"It's a bit of a long story," the Doctor offered her as he slid into the car's backseat obediently. "Sorry."

"Well you'll have plenty of time to explain at the station." Emma shut the car door and walked around to the driver's side of the car and getting in.

"I'm, ah, actually new to the area." The Doctor began as Emma pulled the car door closed. "A bit of a mystery chaser if I do say so myself." Emma glanced at him in the rear view mirror. What was he getting at? "Can I ask, has anything strange happened here lately?"

Emma looked straight ahead, what was it with the strangers in this town? Wishing Wells and Phone Boxes crashing in the park and he's asking about mysteries?

"Depends on who you ask, I guess," she said quietly, starting the car and putting it in drive.

"And what about you, Sheriff?" the Doctor asked, scooting forward on the cruiser seat.

"There are far too many coincidences in this town for me to lean one way or the other," Emma grumbled. She felt her mind go back over the events of the past few weeks. August's arrival, Graham's sudden death, the apparently true statement that only she could leave, evidenced by Ashley's near miss. "Personally, the mystery on my mind right now is how a phone box crashed into the middle of our public square."

The Doctor frowned. Maybe the Sheriff wasn't the one to discuss this with. "Who do you think I should ask?" The Doctor asked, voice turning slightly more serious.

Emma kept her eyes straight ahead and her grip on the steering wheel tightened. Superpower or not, this man was hiding something. But there was one person- one mystery that sprang to the forefront of her mind. She took a deep breath.

"Henry Mills."

* * *

><p>The Doctor did not like being in the Police Department's holding cell. Watching Emma work on paperwork. He couldn't help but sense a sort of tension in the air, as if she was working so dutifully to prove herself to someone who had already discounted her.<p>

"So, what's your real name?" Emma finally pierced the silence, glancing from her desk to the Doctor. The Doctor stared at her.

"I told you." His voice was calm and firm, but probing into how much exactly she knew. "It's John Smith."

"Look—Mr. Smith," Emma said, standing. She waltzed over to the holding cell. "I have this thing, let's call it a superpower," she leaned down so she was face to face with the seated Doctor. "I can tell when someone's lying."

The Doctor swallowed the lump that he felt grow in his throat. She could tell when someone was lying? That would probably cause some problems. "I'm called the Doctor." he allowed, watching her intently.

She nodded. "And? Doctor who?"

"That's it," he said, shrugging. "Just the Doctor." She stared at him, trying to figure out this impossible man.

"All right, Doctor." Emma straightened back up and started back to her desk, only to hear a sudden rushed _click clack_ of heels coming into the room. With the new sound, the Doctor noticed Emma tense up, and a quiet, aggravated, "Dammit."

The woman who entered was a tall, brunette woman with intense dark eyes. She was sharply dressed, wearing a nicely tailored pinstripe suit and a dark purple ascot. A weird sort of contrast compared to Emma's bright red coat and jeans.

"Madam Mayor." Emma said tersely. "What do you want?"

"Sheriff," the woman said, matching Emma's tone. "It's about Hen-" the Mayor caught sight of the Doctor, sitting quietly in the cell. "Who is this?"

"A visitor." The Doctor offered, shrugging, standing to get a better view. "I crashed a phone box in the park."

"A phone box?" Regina looked from the Doctor to Emma, who simply nodded. She looked back at the Doctor.

"I must say this is all quite strange Ms. Swan. Regina said, eyes flickering up and down the tall suited gentleman with thinly veiled distaste. "No one comes to Storybrooke for years and suddenly we're inundated with tourists."

The sheriff clicked her tongue. As much as she hated to admit when Regina was right, the Mayor was right on the money for this one. Though, that didn't keep her from protesting…

"Okay, it's been a guy on a moto-August and John Smith here-" Emma crossed her arms. "It's not exactly a Disney World crowd."

Regina scowled, snapping her attention from the Doctor back to Emma. "Just remember, sheriff. You may not care about the laws in this town, but you do have a duty to uphold them." Regina turned her collar up. "I have to work late tonight, but Henry needs a ride home after his appointment with Dr. Hopper. I know that your time together has been a bit restricted lately, so if you'd like, you may take him to dinner after his appointment."

Emma nodded. "Yeah, that sounds fine."

"Now if you'll excuse me." The mayor turned, giving one last disdainful glance to the Doctor before leaving.

"She was a fun one..." the Doctor mumbled under his breath, leaning against the bars of the cell.

"Tell me about it," Emma sighed, sitting down at her desk. She smiled at the Doctor. "I'm impressed though. It's one thing to come to town. It's another thing entirely to get on Regina's bad side in less than a day."

"Sounds like you already have!" the Doctor said, sitting back down in the cell.

"It only took me ten minutes," Emma said, flopping the folder with what little information she had on the Doctor onto her desk.

"So, this Henry, is this the guy that you told me about earlier?" Emma's gaze snapped up from the file back to the Doctor. "I'm interested in meeting him."

"Maybe later," Emma said, frowning. She was positive that Henry would love to meet this odd man, another helper for Operation Cobra. "After I'm done with my investigation."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, there was quite obviously something else going on here, and he wanted to get started on his investigation right away. This was just going to drain valuable time.

His mind wandered back to Ood Sigma's warning. At this rate, his song would end inside this cell.

"Fine," he said lowly. "I'll tell you everything." Emma nodded.

"Good," she replied, opening a desk drawer and pulling out a form.

"You might want to wait until I've actually explained before writing it all down," the Doctor said, craning his neck to try and look at the form. "It's a bit out there, unbelievable even."

"Try me." the Sheriff said plainly, jotting some precursory information down onto the sheet. She wandered over to the face the Doctor in the holding cell.

"Well, let's see... to begin with, I'm not from Maine. Or even America." The Doctor began, searching for the best way to get out of the cell.

"I'm couldn't tell." Emma rolled her eyes. "Come on, I'm not an idiot, you've got a British accent! I thought this was unbelievable. Britain isn't exactly Mars." The Doctor tensed, and his face went blank, Emma noticed.

"You're _not _from Mars," Emma asked shakily, as the words fought their way out from her throat.

"Of course not!" the Doctor admonished, as that was clearly preposterous. Emma stared at him, her superpower didn't flare up to say he was lying, but he quite obviously wasn't telling the truth.

"Where are you from?"

The Doctor glanced up at her, dark eye's meeting Emma's blue ones. He broke the stare.

"Cardiff, Wales." the Doctor allowed quietly. The sheriff sighed heavily and shook her head.

"See, you're lying, and things would go much faster if you would just tell me." Emma crossed her arms.

"I… am..." the Doctor sighed heavily. Tell this woman, and she would most likely end up tagging along for his entire investigation. Was he ready for that? It had been barely an hour since he'd left Donna with her mother and grandfather. "You really, _really_ wouldn't believe me," he tried to suggest again, though before he'd even finished he could see she wasn't buying it.

"You want unbelievable?" Emma asked, voice rising slightly in anger. "I don't think you know the meaning of the word. My son found me from a closed adoption and brought me to this town. He thinks everyone in it is a bunch of fairytale characters! And honestly, the more that happens in this godforsaken town, the more I believe him. I kissed a man, and he had a sudden fatal heart attack. I watched him die in my arms, three feet from where we are now. Items appear and reappear and things explode and people come out of decade long comas! This entire town is unbelievable. So I dare you, try me. Where are you from?"

The Doctor smirked slightly. So she knew more about mysteries than she had let on. And in fact seemed like the perfect companion for this adventure.

"My name is the Doctor." He said, straightening himself, "And I am a TimeLord from the Planet Gallifrey."


	3. Chapter 3

(Author's Note: If some of you read the last chapter before March 7th, you saw a part about Mulan. This was originally intended to be a side plot, I have since decided that this story is not the place to explore that particular side story and have such removed it from the previous chapter. I may pursue this story in a future crossover for Once Upon a Time, but we'll just have to wait and see. Thank you for your understanding.)

Regina Mills stalked up the steps of Storybrooke's City Hall, purse clenched tightly in her hand. Who was that ridiculous looking British man?

She gave curt, polite nods to everyone she passed as she made her way to the office. Each tilt of her head making her angrier and more frustrated.

And here she thought her curse was foolproof. First Henry-_her _Henry-had somehow gotten out of the city limits to find the hindrance that was his biological mother. Then, the mysterious writer; August, Emma had said. And then that string bean in a suit? What was going on?

The only time, EVER that anyone had come or left, was when Mr. Gold had Henry to Regina in the first place. And even then she was sure that the man had not actually left the city. She got to her office, closing the door behind her.

Mr. Gold. Rumpelstiltskin. He remembered. He'd remembered the entire time. He remembered himself, he remembered her tricks, he'd remembered their deals... The deals. She should have realized he'd known sooner.

But how could she? He'd been surreptitious, allowed himself to not want for anything To not need anything in this new world. To not need anything from her.

But how much exactly did he know? She placed her purse on her desk. Would he know about where Kathryn really went? She expected by the end of the day for that new drama to come to light. Sidney was already working on that for her.

Having an in at the Sheriff's office was going to certainly come in handy. She could only hope that she could sufficiently distract Emma with Henry so that she didn't notice some of the more obvious problems with what Sidney would bring up for her.

She sighed heavily, sitting on the edge of her desk. Things were getting more and more complicated every day.

"My name is the Doctor, and I am a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey," the Doctor said, voice firm and intense. An uneasy silence settled over them.

Emma stared. Her superpower lay dormant. No little bell ringing in her head, not even a heart flutter.

"What?" she asked, managing to break the quiet. "You're a Time Lord from... Gallifrey?"

The Doctor nodded solemnly. "That's right. That phone box you saw, that's my spaceship. The TARDIS."

"The TARDIS?" Emma asked, eyebrows rising.

"Stands for _Time And Relative Dimension In Space," the Doctor said quickly, as he recounted the words he'd said already so many times before._

_"__Time?"_

_"__It's also a, ah, timeship," the Doctor added._

_"__That little box?" Emma shifted her body away from the Doctor, crossing her arms._

_"__Oh yes!" he nodded. "It's bigger on the inside, you can trust me on that."_

_"__So you're an alien? Is what you're telling me?" Emma clenched her eyes shut, trying to pretend it wasn't her voice saying these words._

_The Doctor nodded. "Yuuuuup."_

_"__I don't-I don't believe it. You have to be lying! That's insane! You're insane!"_

_"__Believe it or not!" The Doctor sat back down, watching the sheriff. "You're the one with the superpower. You tell me."_

_Emma watched him quietly. She thought back to what August had told her earlier that day. When he'd taken her to the Wishing Well. Needing evidence to move forward and being stuck in one place for a very long time. Maybe she'd let this be her first leap of faith. But still... this claim was far out there, even for a leap of faith._

_"__Is there possibly any way for you to prove it?" she asked, eyes flicking up and down the Doctor again._

_"__Two hearts." he offered. Emma's eyes widened, but before she could say anything else, the Doctor had stood again. He reached into his inner jacket pocket, and pulled out a long cylindrical device. "Oh, and this."_

_"__What's that?" Emma asked, eying the device suspiciously. _

_"__Oh-this. Just my screwdriver," the Doctor said with a smug little smile, turning one of the several knobs on it. He aimed the device at the lock of the holding cell._

_There was a loud "__TWEEEEEEE__" and the lock clicked, allowing the door to swing wide open._

_"__That's not like any screwdriver I've ever seen," Emma said, stepping away from the door to allow the Doctor through._

_"__It's sonic. You know, you really should get one, they're awfully useful, if I do say so myself." The Doctor grinned at her again and tucked the screwdriver back into his coat pocket._

_"__That's ridiculous!" Emma blurted out. "You make no sense at all."_

_"__Well, sorry." The Doctor said. "I suppose I could show you the TARDIS later, but if I do recall you mentioned all sorts of wondrous and strange occurrences going on in this town, Miss Emma Swan." His voice grew louder, and more fast paced as he spoke. Clearly excited to be out from behind prison bars. "So never mind what I am. There's a mystery to be unraveled Sheriff. Allons-y!"_

_Emma watched the Doctor bound into the lobby, red sneakers kicking up behind him. Her heart leapt into her chest. A real mystery, something a bit more substantial than Sidney's (fruitless) accusations against Regina and Henry's urgings to try and break the "curse." Honestly, she still wasn't sure it was real. But she was becoming more and more convinced every day. _

_No, this was an actual, tangible trail to follow about the strangeness surrounding the town. And she'd be working with an alien. Someone who could give an explanation beyond "the Evil Queen's curse did it." Henry would never believe this._

_She glanced down on the paper that she still clenched in her hands. At the top of the form, on the blank labeled "Name", it still announced in her own messy handwriting, "John Smith." She sighed, shaking her head and wrinkling the paper. She tossed it into the trash bin by the desk, the name still poking out over the edge of the receptacle. _

_"__Allons-y."_

_–_

_Henry sat inside Archie Hopper's office. He was cross legged on the psychiatrist's couch, a large, familiar, leather-bound tome spread across his legs. It had been mere hours since Emma had returned the book to him, and he'd already flipped through it several times trying to see if anything was missing…_

_And thankfully it seemed so far, as if nothing was missing, though what had happened was even stranger._

_"__Hello Henry." Henry tensed, and at first slammed the book closed, only to look up and see the gentle face of Dr. Hopper poking into the office. "I'm sorry I'm late. I had a personal call."_

_"__Oh, that's alright." Henry smiled at the psychiatrist. That smile, so disarming, so easygoing. Obscuring Henry's more manipulative tendencies. He placed the book on the couch beside him as Archie came in and sat in his plush chair._

_"__I see you got your book back," Archie said, spotting the book. Henry instinctively placed his hand on the cover, as if still trying to convince himself it was there._

_"__Yeah, Emma found it." he said ecstatically. "She thinks it fell out of a dump truck, but I'm still not sure..."_

_"__So I guess this means that your mom didn't take it," Archie offered, pulling Henry's folder off his side table and opening it to its newest page. Henry looked down guiltily._

_"__No, I guess not..." He shrugged, then lit up again. "Or she could have planted it! Everything happens for a reason around here, and it's usually her." Archie closed his eyes and sighed quietly. One step at a time he supposed._

_"__Well, as long as the book is safe right?" Archie asked, smiling sweetly from behind his glasses._

_"__Yeah, though its actually kind of strange," Henry said, picking the book up and flipping it open to a page marked with the tassel. "There's a story in here that wasn't there before."_

_"__Well, are you sure?" Archie asked, trying to discern which tale it was. "Maybe you just didn't like this one as much as say, Snow White's, and with the emotions running high, simply forgot it was there in the first place."_

_Henry ran his fingers over the page, as if trying to convince himself it could be true. "Maybe... though there is one image, that's definitely new. Something new is happening here, I just haven't figured out what it is yet." He flipped to the back of the book, where in the neat framing as the rest of the book, there was a picture of the curse from the few pages prior to it. But, instead of a castle in its smoky tendrils, or the ominous cloud spreading across a crystalline lake, there was simply a little blue box._

_–_

As Emma and the Doctor strolled through town, Emma found herself asking the strange man more about what exactly they were hoping to find.

"So, your TARDIS will be able to tell us, what exactly? If there really is a curse? Or if everything's just a huge coincidence?" She asked, walking quickly to match the Doctor's long strides.

"Well..." The Doctor took a breath. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but not anything we don't already know." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, "Give her equations about quantum tunneling mechanics, or configuring the trajectory of the expulsion of matter from a supernova, and she's your girl. But, I'm afraid curses- well, they're just a bit beyond her."

"So then why are we bothering to come back here at all? I could take you to meet Mary Margaret-or, Mr. Gold. Oh, Mr. Gold definitely knows something. Or Sidney Glass could easily tell you a number of the strange occurrences that happened before I came here."

"Well, I'm sorry. But first things first. I've got to move the TARDIS." He stopped walking for a moment and stared at her. "Helpful or not, a crash landed telephone box is sure to draw more than a few wandering eyes. Something I prefer to try and avoid."

Emma began to speak, but considered his words and stopped, simply nodding her head to the side. "I see your point."

The first few tendrils of nighttime were trailing across the sky when the Doctor and Emma reached the part of Anser Square they'd left the TARDIS in.

As they approached the location, Emma noticed two things.

Firstly, and most thankfully, the park was deserted, people preferring the indoors as the twilight chill began to set in. She could see on the far side of the park, someone walking their dog, but not close enough to see any of what she and the Doctor were about to do. However, beyond being devoid of human life, there was something much more important missing.

Namely a large, blue box.

"Doctor-" Emma glanced over at the suited man who was staring distastefully at where he'd remembered leaving the TARDIS. "I don't understand. I didn't put in for it to be removed yet."

The Doctor was quiet, and seemed to be simply staring ahead almost in disbelief at the lack of phone box. But this was incorrect. He wasn't staring, he was observing.

This was in fact where they'd left the TARDIS, the grass imprint was still there. To the northeast, there were still bits of white signage scattered across the lawn from when he'd hit the "Welcome to Storybrooke" sign. Even the clumps of dirt and grass were still clinging from everything that had been in their path.

However, beyond that, leading away from the square impression in the grass was a set of tracks, deep impressions in the mud.

"It's been dragged away." his voice was low, and intense, trying to keep all alarm out of his voice. He turned to Emma. "Who would you have called to get this pulled away?"

"I, uh..." she thought for a moment. "Mr. Gold has a towing company. I'd probably call him, he'd get one of his guys to take it to the lot behind his store."

"Well then I suppose it's time to take a little visit to this Mr. Gold then." The Doctor said, turning on his heels and heading back down to the road.


	4. Chapter 4

"So, what do we even say to Mr. Gold?" Emma asked, following the Doctor back down to the street. She stopped at the sidewalk. "I mean, he has a whole bunch of weird stuff, but somehow I think a 1960s Police Box is a new one for him."

He stopped beside her and for a moment he reflected in the silence."For what it's worth, it's my property. Kind of-" he opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself and simply nodded his head to the side as if he'd thought better of it. "Borrowed... Anyway, not important. The fact is, that new one or not, he has no right to keep it if he has it."

"And how do we move it if he does have it? People are bound to notice a floating blue box flying through town."

"I suppose… You don't have a tow truck or a flat bed by chance?"

Emma stared at him for a beat. "Afraid not." And for a moment, she had to bask in just how odd the pair of them must have looked. One, a tall spiky haired man in a blue pinstripe suit, the other a petite blonde woman, just trying to keep up with his long strides.

"Well, we'll figure that out once we've found the TARDIS and its someplace safe. It transmits a low level Psychic field, so unless we draw attention to it, no one will notice it. It's almost like-"

"Hiding in plain sight." Emma cut him off. "That's ingenious."

"If you're traveling throughout all of time and space," The Doctor started forward again. "You find ways to keep yourself... well, unnoticed." Emma quickly followed after him.

_DOO DE DO DE DOO, DOO DEE DO DE._

The Doctor frowned, he recognized that sound. A mobile. Humans, he never understood them. Take them to the ends of the Earth and they blog. Always have to be connected. Last time he got a phone call, the entire Earth almost suffocated. But still, as Emma stopped and fished it out of her pockets, the Doctor stopped as well, giving her time.

"This is Sheriff Swan. What? The city limits? Alright.. Yeah, I understand, I'm on my way." She shut her phone, and turned to the Doctor, who was watching her intently.

"What was all that about then?" He asked, turning to face her fully, hands stuffed into his pants pockets.

"Um, someone's car was left abandoned at the city limits." Emma said, frowning, glancing from her phone up to his face.

"That's not particularly strange is it?" he asked, "People run out of gas, walk to get more. Maybe they just haven't made it back yet."

"That's the thing, in any other town, the car would be towed, and that would be it. But... in this town," Emma stopped herself. "Well... I can't really say that. But, in this case, the car belongs to Kathryn Nolan, someone who publicly assaulted the woman who got broke up her and her husband's marriage. I've got to go investigate."

The Doctor nodded in understanding. "I would think so, you might have something much more than a disappearance on your hands."

"Look, Mr. Golds shop is right down this main road, go maybe four blocks, and it will be on the right side of the street. It's Gold Pawnbrokers. You can't miss it, it's the last store front at the end of the block."

"And when I've secured the TARDIS?"

"Meet me back at the Sheriff Station, I don't know how long I'll be," she glanced at her cellphone. "It's 4:30 now. I have to pick up Henry at 7. At the very least I will be back by 7:10."

"With Henry?"

"That's right. Alright, so I'll see you later then." Emma turned, and immediately began walking back towards the station to pick up her sheriff car."

"Oh, Sherriff?" The Doctor called out to her. Emma stopped and turned.

"Yes, Doctor?" she asked nervously.

"That thing you started saying before. About because it was this town that she disappeared in. What did you mean by that?"

Emma glanced down at the ground guiltily. Here they were going to go investigate things together, and she was keeping basic information from him.

"As far as me and Henry can tell," she began, lifting her eyes to meet the Doctor's imploring ones. "I'm the only person in town, who can actually... leave town. There was a girl, Ashley, who was pregnant, tried running away. She stops right at the city limit, baby's about to be born. And now, Kaityln, she talked about moving to Boston but... same as with Ashley. Something stopped her. I've got to find out what."

And with that, Emma turned and left, leaving the Doctor to find the TARDIS, alone.

Mr. Gold's shop, was just as Emma had described it. Tucked quietly away at the end of the street he'd been on. The entrace to the shop was a simple wooden door with the "Gold Pawnbrokers" and the hours of the store written in plain gold font.

The Doctor swung the door open, and a little bell rang, announcing the guest to the shopkeeper. If there was one. As the Doctor took a few tentative steps into the Pawnshop.

"Hello?" he called out, glancing around the shop.

"I'll be right with you." a voice carried from the back. The Doctor smirked slightly. He had no problem with that. Several things caught his eye right off the bat. There was a pair of creepy puppets, a small scale windmill. On one of the display cases, there was an intricate oil lamp.

And although the Doctor knew nothing about these items, he felt as if each had a long story behind them. It was if they'd been uprooted from their home, drifting aimlessly through the hands of fate before winding up here, for sale to anyone with the right amount of cash.

It saddened the Doctor in the way. He reached for the oil lamp, and picked it up delicately. "Don't see these much anymore." he muttered to himself, running his fingers lightly over the pattern.

"Ah, yes. I came by that one, a long time ago."

The Doctor looked up from the lamp, to see a short man, standing behind the glass counter. He had longer brown hair and a crooked nose. The man watched the Doctor with a very keen interest.

"You must be Mr. Gold." The Doctor said, placing the oil lamp back down onto the display case with a quiet _tink._ He walked in front of Mr. Gold, so that only the glass counter was between them.

"That I am." The short man bowed his head, "I must say, I don't think I've seen you in town before, what brings you to our little town of Storybrooke?"

"Just visiting." the Doctor said, shrugging. "Though, I was told that you could help me find a specific something. Something I've lost."

Mr. Gold leaned on his cane. "I am quite good at... procuring things." his eyes flicked up and down the Doctor. "for a price of course. What is it exactly that you were looking for?"

"A British Police box." The Doctor began. "Tall, blue. Phone attatched to the front. Little light on top. Pair of doors that say 'Pull to Open'. Have you seen anything like that? I left mine in the park, and... it seems its gone missing."

Mr. Gold leaned back and shook his head. "A big blue box? Can't say I have. Yet-" Mr. Gold walked over to a small Rolodex and picked a blank sheet out of it. "I can certainly find that for you."

He took a pen from his pocket, and jotted down some information. "Unfortunately, I don't know how long this may take. I assume you'll be staying in town for a few days?"

The Doctor nodded. "That's right." he omitted that without the TARDIS, he wouldn't be leaving at all. But this man didn't need to know that. And then something he said struck him. "You said, for a price. What exactly does that entail?"

Mr. Gold watched him for a moment, before simply smiling. "I'm afraid nothing in this world is free. But I'll tell you what, Mr...?" he trailed off and the Doctor quickly finished for him.

"Smith. John Smith."

"Mr. Smith, then. For this, simple job, lets just say you owe me a favor."

The Doctor stared at him for a moment. On one hand, he didn't want to owe this strange man anything. But on the other, this could be his only chance at finding the TARDIS.

"Well, I suppose that works." the Doctor said lowly. Mr. Gold smiled.

"Well then..." Mr. Gold extended his hand. "Mr. Smith, I think we have ourselves a deal."

The Doctor took his hand warily, and shook it once. "Deal."


	5. Chapter 5

As the Doctor left Mr. Gold's shop, he couldn't help but feel that somehow he'd just made an awful mistake that he would end up regretting later. He glanced up at the sky. He still had some time before he had to be back at the Sheriff Station, but already he was thinking of how exactly he was going to spend his extra hour.

Surely Henry Mills couldn't be the only person in town who thought something odd was going on. Though, he couldn't exactly be sure where to even begin to ask. He supposed he could go wandering. Wandering always led him to some place important, or just shouldn't be. Wandering would be a good start.

He turned on his heels, glancing in each of the pathways before him. To his right, he saw the foliage grow denser and denser, until a few orderly rows of houses peeked out in front of them. In front of him, there were a couple more shops lined up and down the street, though several of them looked bordered up. To the left him though, where he had came from. There was the bustle of life. People to meet. Questions to ask. And closer to his ultimate meeting with Emma. He glanced right again.

Except for the quiet breeze blowing stray leaves from one side of the street to the other, it was abandoned.

"I suppose that clears it." he muttered, heading off back the way he'd come.

Granny's Diner was a small resturaunt, a few blocks away from Mr. Gold's Pawnbroker shop.

The Doctor entered the busy locale, and instantly felt as if a dozens of prying eyes were on him.

"Hello," he said brightly, "I'm John Smith." Curiousity sated, most everyone looked away. Though the Doctor noticed a few faces still staring from over the tops of books. And beneath shields of hair. Among them, a short haired woman hiding in the back of the diner at a booth was peeking over a hardcover book and a tall young woman behind the bar with long red streaks in her hair, that seemed to be writing intently on a order pad. Though the Doctor could tell every few words that she was glancing up, staring at him.

He'd start with the bookhider.

He meandered down the short aisle, stopping next to the dark haired woman. As soon as she noticed him approaching, the woman gave a small squeak of surprise and immediately buried herself back in her book, trying to play off her staring.

"Hello," he said brightly when he approached the table. She glanced up at him from her book, daring to not speak a word. "Do you mind if I sit here?" She nodded silently, and tried to resume her book reading, but as the Doctor slid into the booth, she found her attempts useless. Though that didn't mean she would stop trying.

"Hello," he said again, tone just as light as before. She glanced over the top of her book again, and her eyes locked with his, for a sudden awkward moment before breaking away again.

"Hello." she said quietly, beginning the page again for what felt like the tenth time.

"The name's John Smith." he offered, sitting up straight in the booth and leaning forward. A hand disappeared into his coat and he pulled out a thin leather wallet, flahsing it quickly before snapping it shut again. Psychic Paper, how he loved that little invention so. "Private Investigator, I was hoping I could perhaps, I don't know, ask you a few questions about goings on around town?"

The woman sighed quietly and closed her book, "Look, obviously you're new in town so let me do you a favor." She took a breath, trying to figure out where to start. She brushed a short errant strand of dark hair out of her face. "If you're trying to make friends in this town, I'm not the type of person you should be seen with?"

As she spoke, the Doctor noticed her looking around, and slowly growing redder and redder, as if ashamed. Now his curiosity was piqued.

"And why's that?" he asked, calmly, voice as low and soothing as he could manage it. He took his eyes off her for a brief moment to look around, and noticed that as focused as people had been on him, there were just as many eyes on the woman in front of him. Short dirty looks, from behind newspapers and under hats.

The woman frowned. She stared at the table in frustration, as she opened her mouth to speak the Doctor just shook his head.

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me." Her glanced up, and the anxiety on her face seemed to melt away as she smiled, but the Doctor still denoted a hint of sadness playing at the corners of her eyes. "I didn't catch your name though, I'm-"

"John Smith." the woman finished for him. The corner of her lip twitched up into a weak smile. "My name's Mary-Margaret Blanchard. I'm a teacher at Storybrooke Elementary."

"Mary-Margaret? That's a nice name." The Doctor perked, happy he'd gotten her to begin to speak. "Tell me Ms. Blanchard, have you noticed anything strange going on lately?"

Mary-Margaret's brow knitted together in concern. "What do you mean? Strange how?" 

"Well..." the Doctor trailed off, how exactly did you approach this sort of question. He scratched his chin. "Strange happenstance and the like. Odd coincidences. That sort of thing?"

"Honestly?" Mary-Margaret shook her head. "Nothing like that's ever really happened to me.. Oddest thing that's happened the past few days is getting smacked by-" she stopped mid-sentence. "Yes. Actually. A few weeks ago. This Man..." she trailed off, trying to suppress a small laugh. "I'm sorry, this is going to sound crazy."

"Come now." The Doctor admonished. "I'm looking for strange. Bizarre. Things of the unknown." he waggled his fingers at her. "Nothing's too crazy. Trust me. Please, continue."

"Well, I used to volunteer for the hospital. And there was a gentleman there who'd been in a coma for... Well, for as long as I can remember. And then Henry... He asked me to read his storybook to him."

"And what happened? " The Doctor asked making another mental note of Henry's involvement. He leaned forward, intrigued.

"Well, that's the thing." Mary-Margaret's began to fiddle with the ring on her finger absentmindedly. "He woke up."

The Doctor's eyebrows raised, and if he'd been a weaker man, he would have felt his jaw drop. Now that, that was certainly something.

"And not only that," Mary-Margaret continued. ."He wandered off in the middle of the night, and me and Emma and Sheriff Humbert found him collapsed in the lake by the toll road. We were actually really lucky to have found him when we did."

"Sheriff Humbert?" The Doctor asked.

"The last sheriff," Mary-Margaret said frowning. "He passed away recently."

"And sheriff Swan took that position?" The Doctor finished.

"You mean Emma? " Mary -Margaret thought for a moment. "That's right. Though that scenario was another whole fiasco."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for starters the election. There was an explosion at City Hall that involved Emma having to drag Regina out herself. And then it turned out that Mr. Gold set the explosion, and Emma came clean, and there was a smear campaign ran by the paper. It was ridiculous!"

The Doctor nodded as he listened. There were even more off goings-ons in the town than Emma had let on.

"Um, excuse me?" The pair's conversation was cut off by the waitress coming to the booth. The Doctor noticed it as the tall young woman from earlier, with long dark hair and a white cut off top, reminiscent of what the Doctor presumed must have been the Diner's outfit at some point in time.

"Yes, Ruby?" Mary-Margaret asked, smiling sweetly at the young woman. And how could she not? Ruby seemed to be the only person in town who hadn't cast her as the awful harlot.

"I just wanted to let you know that it's a quarter til6 if you're going to go see..." she trailed off, and the Doctor realized that there was a reason Ruby didn't mention names. Most likely something to do with the dirty looks that were still being flashed in Mary-Margaret's direction.

"No, I... I spoke with him yesterday." she said quietly. "I don't think I'll be seeing him anytime soon." Ruby clucked her tongue in understanding.

"I saw your car... Mary, I'm so sorry."

Mary-Margaret shook her head. "No, no... It's okay." she smiled weakly.

"Well, is there anything I can get you?" Ruby pulled out her order pad, and flipped open to a new page.

"A hot chocolate and some of your fresh pie?" Mary-Margaret asked quietly.

The Doctor glanced from Ruby to Mary-Margaret. "Make it two." Ruby watched him, as if trying to deduce what exactly this man wanted from her ailing friend. Even Mary-Margaret glanced from Ruby back down to the Doctor.

"Don't worry, I'll pay."

Ruby gave a small hmph, but wrote the order down all the same. "I'll be right back. Mary, you let me know if you need anything." she glanced at the Doctor again. "You know where I'll be."

"She was fun." The Doctor said, grinning.

"She's just being protective. As I told you, I'm not-" she sighed in aggravation. "I don't exactly have a lot of friends right now. Ruby just wants to make sure things don't get worse." she shrugged. "I'm sure as you get to know her, you'll see she's really sweet."

"I'm sure."

–

Well this wasn't good. Emma stood at the edge of town, finishing a phone call for a tow truck. As far as she could tell, Kathryn had simply vanished, but her car sure hadn't.

Sidney was already on point, looking into phone records. And David had come by as well, surprised at his ex-wife's disappearance. Not that she could blame him, according to him, he hadn't spoken to her since they'd decided to end things.

Though in the back of her mind, Emma couldn't help but wonder. Who else knew that Kathyrn was headed out of town? She shook her head and slid into her car. She still needed to meet back up with the Doctor and pick Henry up from his appointment.

And now she had to investigate a disappearance.

And Emma was happy, with Sydney and the Doctor helping, there would be absolutely no way that this would go unsolved.

Emma sighed. The Doctor was such an impossible man, she couldn't help but wonder his true purpose in Storybrooke. She sighed and shook the thought from her head. She had an investigation to do.


End file.
